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by FactofFiction
Summary: A quick glance over her shoulder showed that he was in fact behind her now. Arms crossed. Jaw set. Leaning casually against a fallen tree stump. Great. He wasn't about to leave her alone. Tiva post-reunion drabble.


"Easy there, Tiger," His voice emerged from the dark treeline some hundred yards away. Sudden. Deep. And more than a little muffled by the great distance at which it traveled, "Those rocks never did anything to you."

_They didn't?_ She thought as she turned one over in her palm, smoothing a thumb over the uneven surface.

"They're rocks, Tony. They do not have feelings."

She twisted her body then, pulling her right arm back and flinging it forward again so the small pebble went skipping across the pond in front of her. It bounced. And bounced. And then it sank.

She stared at the spot where it had disappeared as if challenging it to pop back up and voice a complaint.

"You better hope not. Otherwise, you're racking up some seriously bad juju out here. Better stay away from rocky cliff faces for a while, just to be safe."

She was already wound up for another throw, this time loosening her hips so she could step into the action. But something - be it the sudden closeness of his words or that fact that they were so utterly _Tony_ \- made her pause. A quick glance over her shoulder showed that he was in fact behind her now. Arms crossed. Jaw set. Leaning casually against a fallen tree stump.

_Great. _He wasn't about to leave her alone.

"Shouldn't you be back at the cabin?" This time she did throw the rock, watching as it skipped across the water and landed on the far shore, "You know, _with Tali_?"

The weight of his stare on her back was nearly unbearable. It threatened to knock her down as she carefully bent over to grab another handful of small stones.

"Bishop stopped by. Wanted to see how we were doing with…" She didn't have to look behind her to see the vague gesture he made. She could just feel it, "Everything."

"Oh, she did, huh?"

Ziva knew her annoyance toward Ellie was misplaced. Inappropriate, even. But that didn't stop it from roaring deep inside her as she imagined Tony filling the young blonde in on the events of that afternoon.

"She just wants to help," The defensive edge to his words was enough to make her flush with color.

But it wasn't enough to curb her mood completely.

"I am sure she does."

Another rock went soaring across the surface of the pond. They both watched it in tense silence.

"Look, Ziva. I'm, uh…. I'm really sorry."

_He's sorry?_ She felt like she was going to vomit.

"What do you have to be sorry for, Tony?"

"I… I should have done better. I should have prepared her better. Talked to her before we landed. Given her some context. Made sure she understood what was going on…"

Ziva laughed. Boastfully. Hysterically. And the action might have been freeing if she hadn't been so focused on not crying.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing. It's just..." She swallowed once. Then twice. A third time for good measure. "... the fact that my own daughter has to be… _coached_ in order to talk to me."

A few more chuckles escaped as she twisted back around to fling her final stone across the water. It barely bounced twice before disappearing beneath the surface. She felt the need to disappear with it.

"Well, we did kind of spring all of this on her," His careful use of the word 'we' did not pass without effect, "And three years is a long time. Even more so in kid-years. But she'll come around."

There was a scraping sound right beside her, and she turned just in time to see him fling his own grey pebble across the pond. It skipped a few times and then landed on the beach opposite of them. They both stood there, watching the path it had just taken.

"She…"

He turned, squaring his shoulders and his attention on her before she even realized she had spoken.

She had to swallow before she could do it again.

"She doesn't remember me, Tony. I… I am her mother. And she has no idea who I am."

"She knows who you are, Ziva."

"She knows…" Her hand slipped through his as she turned to face him head-on, making her aware that he had been trying to hold on to her in the first place, "what you have told her about me. She knows the stories. The pictures. But she doesn't know _me_."

And while she had somehow missed the feeling of his skin against hers the moment before, there was no missing the way he brought his hands up to rest on her shoulders. His palms felt like they were burning through the heavy fabric of her sweater, and the sensation seemed to warm her from the inside.

"She will get to know _you_. It'll take some time but…" His hands were on her neck now and she absently wondered how he had managed to take the early December chill right out of the air, and the breath right out of her lungs, "Time is something we have now."

_We._ He used it again. Such a small word and yet it held so much weight for them. They were _partners_ again, but in a way they had never experienced before. Frankly, a way very few people in the world had likely experienced before (she wasn't sure how many people each year faked their own deaths in order to track down the woman threatening their family while their co-parent raised the child they didn't know existed, but she was fairly certain she wouldn't find such a sentiment on a hallmark 'thank you' card any time soon). But if there was one thing she could count on, and one thing he had made abundantly clear in their few formal interactions since reuniting that morning at the airport, it was that he intended for them to figure this thing out together. And that he, as always, had her back.

"Tony…" She whispered, her eyes fluttering closed as he rested his forehead on hers.

"Shhhh…" He soothed, hands brushing back across her shoulders, down her arms, settling low on her waist, "It's okay."

She wanted to shake her head but feared that the momentary loss of contact and added space between their faces just might be enough to break her.

"It's not okay. None of this is okay."

He tilted his head away, and for a moment she feared that her words had broken whatever spell they were both under. But then he pulled her closer and pressed his lips to her hairline in a way that was both comforting and protective. Promising a future of him doing both.

"I know it's not," His breath was warm, just like the rest of him, and she relaxed as it fanned across her face, "But it will be, okay? It will be."

And _that_, goddammit _that_, was ultimately her undoing. She folded into him, face burying itself in his chest while her arms snaked their way around his broad shoulders, and he held her impossibly closer. His lips slowly found their way beside her ear, where he continued to whisper sweet nothings, in French, English, even Hebrew (she'd have to ask him about that later). He didn't pull back when she started to cry. He didn't pull back… ever.

She eventually did. But not until the sun had long since set and her post-cry dehydration started to rear its head.

"We should probably head back."

He smirked at her, seemingly oblivious to the absurdly large stain adorning his right shoulder.

"Sure thing, Zi, but you might wanna take a minute. Wouldn't want Bishop seeing you like this."

He brushed the heel of his palm across her cheek, wiping away residual tracks of tears before combing his fingers through her already distressed curls. The tenderness of his touch made her eyes water again.

She wiped at them vigourously, "This isn't fair. You are supposed to be angry with me."

Something about that made his smirk deepen, "Oh, I am. So angry. Furious, even."

"Then why-" She hiccuped pathetically, which only made her feel more flustered, "-are you being so nice to me?"

His features softened as he found a particularly alluring patch of coils at the base of her neck to play with, "Because you've been taking body blows all day. From Tali. From yourself. I know I'll get my chance to yell. And trust me, I'm gonna yell eventually. But right now…"

His thumb brushed over her jaw in an almost reverent way, and she half expected him to kiss her.

But instead, he smiled, "I'm just really happy you're alive."

So she smiled back, "Me too."

And then he took her hand, lacing their fingers together in a way that felt so familiar and yet so entirely new. Yes, they had a long road ahead, both as a family and whatever form of relationship they ended up having between the two of them. But the day hadn't been entirely bad.

Memories or not, Ziva had finally been reunited with her daughter. On top of that, she was reunited with many others whom she considered to be nearly equal parts of her family. And then there was Tony, angry with her (as he should be) but still willing to hold her hand and lead her back through the forest to the cabin where Tali slept (there has to be a metaphor in there somewhere).

It wasn't perfect. And it wouldn't be for a long time. But it was _something_.

And at the end of the day, _something _was a pretty good place to start.

* * *

**I did a bad thing. **

**Actually, I'm not taking the blame for this. This is Tumblr's fault. Someone posted a pic and someone else said it looked like a Tiva reunion and...then this happened. Honestly, I'm just as much a victim of this one as all of you are. **

**So I hope you enjoy. It's short, and was only proofread like once or twice (normally I do more than that) so hopefully, there aren't too many glaring errors. If there are, I'll probably edit it later. But I wanted to go ahead and get this up before I went to class (and before I overthought it and decided not to post). **

**If you're over on tumblr, you should go ahead and check out my blog (factoffictionwriter... because I'm creative) and then maybe you can also see the horrible images and posts that send me into frantic writing fits at 4 in the morning when I should most definitely be sleeping. It's a great time. I promise. **


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